Invisible Men

On December 13th, 1923, a black boy named Larry Doby was born in Camden, South Carolina to David Doby and Etta Brooks. No one knew his life would bring such a significant cultural change in the sport of baseball. Larry Doby was the second black man to play major league baseball, after Jackie Robinson that is. Even though Doby isn’t as well known as Robinson, he still had the same struggles in his baseball career. “Larry Doby: The Struggle of the American League’s First Black Player” is a great book on Larry Doby’s life and how he came about playing baseball in the major

The MLB went through a drastic adjustment as a result of the introduction of Jackie Robison to the league. The league at the time was a white league. He broke a wall that prevented the opportunity for people of colour to have a chance and show the true potential and skill of their abilities. Other than breaking a major colour barrier in the sports leagues, he helped with the introduction of more black players in the league. The league started seeing more and more players that were not white. Soon after in 1947, the next black player joined the Cleveland Indians. The players became much more comfortable with the idea of a minority playing with them.

Since the creation of baseball, the game has been America’s favorite pastime. Baseball has fostered connections throughout generations and has a rich history that goes beyond the surface of the general game. Although slavery was no longer a concern during the peak of baseball, the culturally iconic game was not always integrated. Some African-Americans were allowed and able to play on predominantly white teams, but unfortunately racism was still an issue for most.

Baseball's color barrier cracked on April 18, 1946 when Jackie Robinson, signed to the Dodgers organization by owner Branch Rickey, made his first appearance with the Montreal Royals in the International League. After a single season with Montreal, Robinson joined the parent club and helped propel the Dodgers to a National League pennant in 1947. In 1947, the reintegration of the baseball leagues started with the signing of Jackie Robinson by the Brooklyn Dodgers. Robinson became the first 20th Century black baseball player allowed in the all-white professional leagues. When Jackie played his first Major League season and led the Dodgers to the National League pennant, he shattered the color barrier thus allowing black players in the all-white Major Leagues. Along the way he also earned National League Rookie Of The Year honors. P. Mills stated, “Robinson's success opened the floodgates for a steady stream of black players into organized baseball. Robinson was shortly joined in Brooklyn by Negro League stars Roy Campanella, Joe Black and Don Newcombe, and Larry Doby became the American League's first black star with the Cleveland Indians. By 1952 there were 150 black players in organized baseball, and the "cream of the crop" had been lured from Negro League rosters to the integrated minors and majors. During the four years immediately following Robinson's debut with the Dodgers virtually all of the Negro Leagues' best talent had either left the league for opportunities with integrated teams or had grown too old to attract the attention of major league scouts. With this sudden and dramatic departure of talent black team owners witnessed a financially devastating decline in attendance at Negro League games. The attention of black fans had forever turned to the integrated major leagues, and the handwriting was on the wall for the Negro Leagues.” The signing of Robinson was soon followed by the signing

The Negro leagues played a very important role in modern day baseball, allowing the development and upbringing of a whole new generation of baseball players and philosophies. There are not many places that you can find information regarding the Negro leagues such as artifacts, personal account of events, or an accurate chronological timeline of what occurred during the ‘Negro Leagues’ era of baseball. Additionally, the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum is not just simply a representation of what happened for baseball specifically during that era. The Museum is a representation of how African Americans were finally able to advance in the United States. An African American playing baseball with ‘white folk’ was quite literally unheard of until Jackie Robinson came to fame with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

The game of baseball has been intertwined in our history. It has been there through the wars and the civil rights movements. The game has seen it all. There have been great players who have put their career’s on hold to fight for their country. “More than 500 major league baseball players during World War II, including stars like Ted Williams, Stan Musial and Joe DiMaggio”. There is one player that didn’t have to put his career on hold to fight for his country. He fought for his country simply by playing baseball. His name is Jackie Robinson the first African American player in Major League Baseball. As Robinson was making his debut in baseball the country was starting up another crucial civil rights movement. As many people credit Robinson and the breaking of the color barrier in baseball in 1947 as the moment that kicked off the civil rights movements of the 1950s and 1960s. Where African Americans were fighting an ongoing struggle of desegregation. The hope of this paper is to show the true magnitude of what one man accomplished. By breaking the color barrier of MLB and the impact that it had on the rest of the country.

The year is 1936, in Pasadena, California. A single mother works many odd jobs just to put food on the table for her five children. These children, all black, face discrimination every day. They, along with their minority friends, are rarely included in activities. The youngest of them, however, appears to have a great gift for sport. He is a shortstop for the baseball team, quarterback for the football team, and guard on the basketball team, and he excelled in all three. On August 28th, 1945, now a former college athlete and veteran, he had a meeting with Branch Rickey. That day, Jackie Robinson signed a contract to be the first black player in Major League Baseball. Of course, many black people have excelled in many areas. Though racism has always been a part of society, many black people have been able to make great accomplishments and are now celebrated for what they do.

By 1955, the Negro Leagues and most black baseball teams were no longer around. There were eight men who only played in the Negro Leagues that are now in the Hall of Fame. There are also seven Negros, who played not only in the Negro Leagues, but also the Major Leagues as well, that are also in the Hall of Fame. Some of the most famous of these men include: Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Ernie Banks, and of course, Jackie Robinson. This is an incredible accomplishment for the entire African-American race because it shows that success should not be only be for the white men, but also the hard working Negros, (Chadwick,

M. Wilson, mentioned that the fans in the stands never really noticed who was on the field, instead they only examined what was on the field. They only looked for talent. They only came to see good baseball players. He also specified that “Race relations in baseball had reflected those in American society as a whole in the decades since the end of the civil war” which meant that sports, specifically baseball, had been affecting Americans ever since the 19th century. During this time the people who didn’t agree with American race relations decided to challenge the Jim Crow Segregation laws through baseball .

April 15 ,1947 is when Jackie Robinson broke the color- barrier by becoming the first African American to play in Major League Baseball. The landscape of race relations that followed Jackie Robinson’s achievement in sports, politics and society as a whole, verify the reality of its impact. Robinson’s story, is in a sense has a wider history of racial integration in America. It somewhat circles itself, progress hitting resistance with

In the pre-dawn of the Civil Rights Movement, the 1940s were rife with racial tension. Nearly all public institutions were segregated. Libraries, schools, transportation, the armed forces. Sports teams were just as rigorously divided into two sects--the Negro leagues and the major leagues. There was no question about which division a black man would play for. Nobody dared cross the rift between whites and blacks; they were too afraid. Eventually, however, all it took was one man to begin breaking down the barrier. Jackie Robinson’s time in baseball’s major leagues broke color lines and brought about significant social changes both on and off the field.

Many of the fans and players had begun to accept and make friends with African Americans. Some of the team owners discovered that they could profit from having the African Americans on their team. The money gap that was lost from the Negro leagues was regained from the increased number of fans, because the African American’s and Americans both attracted large numbers of fans. In 1959 the two leagues were fully integrated, and there was less racism in the major league. By the time 1979 came around twenty-six percent of the major league rosters were African American (MLB).

Between 1933 and about the end of the second World War, black baseball evolved from just another failing Depression-era industry to an incredibly successful league complete with interesting storylines, characters, and controversies. The Negro league collapse began slowly as the United States returned home from war. As the general society became more comfortable with the idea of integration, the Negro leagues met its conqueror — a slow but steady

The story of Jackie Robinson has become one of America's most iconic and inspiring stories. Since 1947, American history has portrayed Jackie Robinson as a hero, and he has been idolized as a role model to the African American baseball community. It is an unarguable fact that he was the first to tear down the color barriers within professional baseball. The topic of Robinson’s role in integration has long been a point of discussion amongst baseball historians. Researchers have accumulated thousands of accredited documents and interviews with friends and team mates such as short stop, Pee Wee Reese, and team owner, Branch Rickey. However, few journalists have asked why Robinson was selected and what was Branch

The Negro Leagues, baseball leagues for merely black players, allowed urban communities to “pass down the tradition of ‘their’ game 25.” As the Negro leagues ended, baseball’s popularity diminished because it no longer acted as a unique and individualized aspect of African-American culture. The Negro Leagues and the black baseball movement inspired hope as a part of the larger civil rights movement of the 20th century and the black community utilized baseball “as a means of collective identity and civic pride 26.” African- American’s racial advances in baseball signaled the long term success of the larger civil rights movement of the 20th century. As a result, baseball became essential in identifying the progress and identity of African-American culture. Baseball lost its social prevalence after the African-American civil rights movement due to the emergence of other